Plumbing Fixture with Flush Valve Actuator and Methods of Calibrating Same

ABSTRACT

Plumbing fixtures with a valve actuator for automatically controlling pivoting of a flush valve, and methods of calibrating movement of the flush valve, are disclosed. The motor of the valve actuator may be positioned between the bowl of the fixture and a leg of a trapway to provide compact assembly. A belt drive laterally extending along the trapway links the motor to the flush valve. The method of calibrating includes establishing stop points which are at positions of less resistance than hard stop positions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to plumbing fixtures such as toilets andbidets which have a trapway extending from a lower outlet of their mainbowl. In particular, it relates to automated outlet flush valves usedtherewith, and methods of positioning and calibrating actuatorstherefor.

Toilets are known which have a pivotable outlet flush valve between thebowl's lower outlet and a trapway extending therefrom towards the sewersystem. See e.g. U.S. patent application publication 2008/0072372. Asdescribed in that publication, the pivot valve can be linked to anautomated control system so as to control toilet flushing via thatmeans.

However, using this type of system currently has a number of drawbacks.For one thing, the motor or other actuator system for the pivot valve istypically positioned so as to project laterally out from the trapway ina way that disrupts aesthetics, or uses up desirable lateral space. Foranother, motor systems attached thereto may present surfaces that canundesirably snag other items (e.g. during cleaning).

Moreover, when such pivotable flush valves are repetitively drivenbetween hard stop open and closed positioned by motors, the life of theseal and motor assembly can be compromised absent use of more expensivematerials. This can create maintenance issues, and/or undesirablyincrease the cost of the product to the consumer.

Hence, there is a need for improvements to address the above issues.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention provides a plumbing fixture having abowl with a lower opening. The lower opening is in selectivecommunication with a trapway. The trapway has an upwardly extending leglinked to a downwardly extending leg, in switchback fashion. There is aspace outside the trapway between the bowl and upwardly extending leg.

A flush valve is positioned between the lower opening and a portion ofthe trapway for controlling flow from the bowl through the trapway. Theplumbing fixture further includes a valve actuator having a motor thatis positioned at least in part in said space. There is also a linkageconnected to the motor to be driven thereby. The valve actuator is alsoconnected to the flush valve so that during a flushing cycle it cancontrollably move the flush valve between a first position in which theflush valve prevents fluid removal from the bowl via the trapway and asecond, open position where fluid in the bowl is permitted to evacuatefrom the bowl through the trapway.

In preferred aspects of the present invention:

(a) the linkage may be a belt drive;

(b) the linkage may be at least in part located on a lateral side of thetrapway; and/or

(c) the linkage may pivot the flush valve.

To control pivoting of the flush valve, a controller is placed inelectrical communication with the motor. The controller defines alimited range of pivoting of the flush valve between a seal position andan open position. The controller establishes this limited range at leastin part by identifying a high resistance seal position and then settingan operational seal position at a lower resistance seal positionadjacent to the high resistance seal position. The controller alsopreferably establishes this limited range in part by identifying a highresistance open position and then setting an operational open positionat a lower resistance open position adjacent to the high resistance openposition.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of setting up a plumbing fixture of the type described above. Themethod includes establishing a limited range of pivoting of the flushvalve at least in part by identifying a high resistance sealing positionand then setting an operational sealing position at a lower resistancesealing position adjacent to the high resistance sealing point. Themethod may further include establishing said limited range in part byalso identifying a high resistance open position and then setting anoperational open position at a lower resistance position adjacent to thehigh resistance open position.

To do this the motor may be run to pivot the flush valve in a firstdirection until the flush valve encounters a first obstacle (e.g. thevalve seat), thereby defining a first calibration position. The motormay then be reversed to pivot the flush valve in a second directionuntil the flush valve encounters a second obstacle (e.g. a full openstop surface), thereby defining a second calibration position.

The amount of motor operation required to pivot the flush valve betweensaid first and second calibration positions is determined from thatmovement. An operational sealing position is then defined between thecalibration positions, but still at a position where the flush valvefirmly contacts the valve seat (albeit with somewhat less force). Forexample, the system can count the number of motor pulses required topivot the flush valve between the first and second calibration positionsand use that number to help define the sealing position. For example, if390 pulses were needed to move from the hard seal to the full openposition, the system might define the operational seal as 388 backtowards the hard seal from the full open. It might then define the lessfull open operational open position as 386 back from the operationalseal position.

Hence, this patent provides more compact assemblies for plumbingfixtures having automated flush valves. By placing the motor of thevalve actuator in the space between the bowl and a leg of the trapway,and developing a linkage which essentially parallels a lateral aspect ofthe fixture, the design is more aesthetically pleasing, it presents lessrisk of undesirably snagging items, and it uses up less space.

Further, by employing the methods of setting up the actuator/flushvalve, maintenance issues are reduced and the use of higher costmaterials is not required.

The foregoing and still other advantages of the present invention willappear from the following description. In that description reference ismade to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in whichthere is shown by way of illustration preferred embodiments of theinvention. These embodiments do not represent the full scope of theinvention. Rather, the claims should be looked to in order to judge thefull scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred toilet of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is partial cross-sectional view of the toilet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear, top, side perspective view of the trapway and theattached valve actuator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the FIG. 3 components;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the FIG. 3 components;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the FIG. 3 parts,with a belt drive cover shown removed;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a part of the FIG.4 structure, showing how the parts would appear with the flush valve inthe operational seal position;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7, but showing how the parts wouldappear when the flush valve is in the operational open position;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a preferred method of calibrating theactuator/flush valve; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view focusing on the flush valvepositioning at various stages of the calibration method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, a toilet 10 is shown that has a frontsection 12, a backpack portion 14, and a movable lid 16. The frontsection 12 includes a bowl 18 extending from an upper rim 20 down to alower opening 22, which in turn connects to a trapway 24.

An outlet flush valve 26, which will be described in more detail below,is positioned between the lower opening 22 of the bowl 18 and thetrapway 24 to place the two in selective communication with each other.There is a valve actuator 28 which is linked to the flush valve 26 andcontrolled by a controller 27 (see FIG. 6).

In the most aesthetically forms of the invention there is an outershroud 30 that envelopes the bowl 18, the trapway 24, and the valveactuator 28. However, this is not required. A large number of otheroperational components including, but not limited to, a water tank, abattery backup, air circulators, and various electronic components, arehoused in the backpack portion 14.

With additional reference to FIGS. 3-6, the shape of the trapway 24 isserpentine/switchback. As the trapway 24 extends down from the loweropening 22 and towards a sewer connector 32, the trapway 24 includes anentry 34 which in a conventional fashion then curves back up behind thebowl 18 to communicate with an upwardly extending leg 36.

Then, the upwardly extending leg 36 then curves downwardly in switchbackfashion to communicate with a downwardly extending leg 38. This createsthe usual weir 42 between the upwardly extending leg 36 and thedownwardly extending leg 38. When the toilet 10 is between flush cycleswater will collect in the trap above point 40 of FIG. 2 so as to preventsewer gases from returning back to the bathroom.

It should particularly be appreciated that as shown in FIG. 2 there is aspace 60 outside the trap and bowl formed between the bowl and up leg36. This is where various portions of the actuating system are nowpositioned, as will be discussed below.

The preferred flush valve 26 has a generally arcuate sealing surface 44which is pivotable about an axis of rotation A-A in FIG. 6. As bestunderstood from FIG. 10, the generally arcuate sealing surface 44,depending on the pivotal position of the flush valve 26, can be placedin sealing contact with the valve seat 46 to form a seal between thebowl 18 and the trapway 24, or alternatively moved sufficiently awayfrom that lip to permit the bowl to evacuate.

The preferred valve actuator 28 includes a motor 48 that is inelectrical communication with the controller 27, a first rotatablemember 50 attached to the motor 48, a second rotatable member 52attached to the flush valve 26, and a drive belt 54 extending betweenthe first and second rotatable members 50/52. A tensioning element 56can be located along the drive belt 54 so as to provide improvedtensioning force to keep the drive belt 54 in tension. A guard cover 58is placed around the drive belt 54 and the rotatable members 50 and 52.

While the most preferred drive is a belt drive system, it should beappreciated that other drive systems and/or linkages may also beprovided for the valve actuator 28. For example, a chain and sprockettype drive system might be used.

The motor 48 is largely positioned in the space 60. This presents anextremely compact assembly. However, by doing this, one still needs totranslate the motion provided by the motor to movement of the flushvalve. This is achieved by the use of the belt drive, which essentiallyparallels the front-to-back axis of the toilet, albeit on a lateral sideof the trap.

Referring next to FIGS. 7 and 8, the operation of the flush valve 26 isillustrated. In these figures, the flush valve 26 is illustrated inphantom lines.

In FIG. 7 the flush valve 26 is positioned in an operational sealposition in which the arcuate sealing surface 44 of the flush valve 26contacts the lip of the valve seat 46 to form an effective seal betweenthe bowl 18 and the trapway 24. The flush valve 26 will be located inthis position between flush cycles so as to retain a pool of water inthe bowl 18. If the flush valve 26 is not already in this position, thenthe flush valve 26 can be moved or pivoted to this position by runningthe motor 48 such that the drive belt 54 is driven in a clockwisemanner, relative to the view of the valve actuator 28 is illustrated inFIG. 7 and as indicated by motion arrows on FIG. 7.

In FIG. 8 the flush valve 26 is shown as positioned in the open positionin which the arcuate sealing surface 44 of the flush valve 26 has beenpivoted to break the seal between the arcuate sealing surface 44 and thelip of the valve seat 46. The flush valve 26 is typically moved to thisposition during a flush cycle such that, when the valve is open, thebowl 18 and the trapway 24 are placed in fluid communication with oneanother. When open, fluid and waste in the bowl 18 will be evacuatedthrough the flush valve 26, into the trapway 24, out of the sewerconnector 32, and into an attached sewer line. To move from a sealedposition to an opened position, the drive belt 54 may be driven in acounter-clockwise direction relative to the view of the valve actuator28 shown in FIG. 8 and as indicated by the motion arrows on FIG. 8.

Now with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, methods 100 of settingup/calibrating the flush valve 26 are schematically illustrated. Acalibration sequence may be run at the factory, or the system may be setup so that periodically it can be rechecked after installation. Forexample, a sensor could be provided that determines whether the systemis leaking water into the trapway between flushes. When that is sensed,a calibration cycle can be run to reset the seal position.

However, the major purpose of the calibration system is to set theoperational seal and operational open positions slightly away from thefull hard stop positions, to reduce wear and thus maintenance problems.According to the methods 100, at least one, and preferably two, hardstop or high resistance positions are determined, and then at least one,and preferably two, operational positions are determined based thereon.

To determine the first hard stop or high resistance position (e.g. thevalve seat), the motor 48 is run in a first direction until the flushvalve 26 hits the valve seat with high resistance at position 1according to step 110. At this point, a first position of reference hasbeen determined which corresponds to one extreme of the pivotal range ofthe flush valve 26.

Then, the other extreme of the pivotal range of the flush valve may bedetermined. The motor 48 may be run in the reverse direction from thefirst direction according to step 112 until the flush valve 26 runs intoa second high resistance position at position 2, corresponding to thefull open, according to step 114.

Motor pulses are counted over this distance. For example, during thereversal of the motor 48 according to step 112, the motor 48 may be“pulsed” to incrementally run the flush valve 26 step-wise over thearcuate path of the flush valve 26. These pulses may be counted todetermine the number of pulses between positions 1 and 2 and to evaluatethe equivalent distance therebetween according to step 116.

From this value, a position 3 may be set which is effective for sealing,but not quite as pivoted as for position 1. This corresponds to anoperational sealing position. One may also then set an operational openposition 4 which is almost, but not quite as pivoted, as for position 2,according to step 118.

The operational sealing position is a position that is adjacent the highresistance sealing point at position 1, but is slightly offset such thatit is at a lower resistance. Likewise, the operational open position isa position that is adjacent the high resistance open position atposition 2, but at which again is at a lower resistance. Duringsubsequent actuation of the flush valve 26, the valve is actuatedbetween positions 3 and 4, thereby avoiding slamming against the stops.

If the motor 48 is using a pulse count to determine the pivotal distanceand/or the positions 3 and 4, then the calculation step 118 may operateaccording to the following example. As the number of pulses betweenpositions 1 and 2 will be known after step 116, the positions 3 and 4which correspond to locations inwardly angularly offset from the highresistance positions of 1 and 2 may be determined according to step 118using simple arithmetic.

For example, the number of pulses from position 2 (the second hard stop)back to position 3 (which may be a pulse away from the first hard stopat position 1) may be the counted number of pulses minus one pulse. Thenumber of pulses to then go from position 3 (offset from position 1) toposition 4 (offset from position 2) may be the counted number of pulsesfrom position 1 to position 2 minus two pulses.

It should be appreciated that while counting pulses is one way ofestimating/evaluating the amount of the pivotal range between two highresistance points and two operational points, that other ways ofdetermining the spatial position of the flush valve 26 may be used suchas sensors or non-incremental evaluation means.

Thus, plumbing fixtures having compact and aesthetically pleasing valveactuating systems are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods ofcalibrating movement of flush valves pivoted by such systems to reducemaintenance issues.

Also, by reducing the footprint of the actuation mechanism, such toiletscan be used in many environments where there previously was not enoughspace in the bathroom to do so. Alternatively, saving space through thetechniques of the present invention may provide extra space for theincorporation of other features with the fixture.

While a specific embodiment of the present invention has been shown,various modifications falling within the breadth and scope of theinvention will be apparent to one skilled in the art. For example,similar principles could be applied to bidets. Thus, the inventionshould not be considered limited to just the embodiments of thedrawings. Rather, the claims should be looked to in order to understandthe full scope of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Disclosed are plumbing fixtures having automated bowl outlet flushvalves, where the actuator therefor is compactly positioned and linked.Also disclosed are techniques for reducing maintenance problems withflush valves of this type.

1. A plumbing fixture, comprising: a bowl having a lower opening; atrapway in selective communication with the lower opening, the trapwayhaving an upwardly extending leg linked to a downwardly extending leg inswitchback fashion, wherein there is a space between the bowl andtrapway; a flush valve positioned between the lower opening and aportion of the trapway for controlling flow from the bowl through thetrapway; and a valve actuator having a motor positioned at least in partin said space, and a linkage connected to the motor to be driven therebyand also connected to the flush valve so as to controllably move theflush valve between a first position in which the flush valve preventsfluid removal from the bowl via the trapway and a second open positionwhere fluid in the bowl is permitted to evacuate from the bowl throughthe trapway.
 2. The plumbing fixture of claim 1, wherein the linkagecomprises a belt drive.
 3. The plumbing fixture of claim 1, wherein thelinkage is at least in part located on a lateral side of the trapway. 4.The plumbing fixture of claim 1, wherein the linkage pivots the flushvalve.
 5. The plumbing fixture of claim 4, wherein a controller is inelectrical communication with the motor to control pivoting of the flushvalve.
 6. The plumbing fixture of claim 5, wherein the controllerdefines a limited range of pivoting of the flush valve between a sealposition and an open position.
 7. The plumbing fixture of claim 6,wherein the controller establishes said limited range in part byidentifying a high resistance seal position and then setting anoperational seal position at a lower resistance seal position adjacentthereto.
 8. The plumbing fixture of claim 7, wherein the controllerestablishes said limited range in part by also identifying a highresistance open position and then setting an operational open positionat a lower resistance open position adjacent thereto.
 9. A method ofsetting up a plumbing fixture of a type having: a bowl with a loweropening; a trapway in selective communication with the lower opening,the trapway having an upwardly extending leg linked to a downwardlyextending leg in switchback fashion; a flush valve positioned betweenthe lower opening and a portion of the trapway for controlling flow fromthe bowl through the trapway; a valve actuator having a linkageconnected to a motor to be driven thereby and also connected to theflush valve so as to controllably pivot the flush valve between a firstposition in which the flush valve can prevent fluid removal from thebowl via the trapway and a second open position where fluid in the bowlcan evacuate through the trapway; wherein a controller is in electricalcommunication with the motor to control pivoting of the flush valve; themethod comprising establishing a limited range of pivoting of the flushvalve at least in part by identifying a high resistance sealing positionand then setting an operational sealing position at a lower resistancesealing position adjacent thereto.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising establishing said limited range at least in part by alsoidentifying a high resistance open position and then setting anoperational open position at a lower resistance position adjacentthereto.
 11. The method of claim 10, comprising: running the motor topivot the flush valve in a first direction until the flush valveencounters a first obstacle, thereby defining a first calibrationposition; reversing the motor to pivot the flush valve in a seconddirection until the flush valve encounters a second obstacle, therebydefining a second calibration position; determining an amount of motoroperation required to pivot the flush valve between said first andsecond calibration positions; and defining a sealing position betweenthe calibration positions, but still contacting a valve seat.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the determining step includes counting anumber of motor pulses required to pivot the flush valve between thefirst and second calibration positions, and wherein that number is usedto help define the sealing position.
 13. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising defining an open position between the sealing position and acalibration position.